Justice League of America (New Earth)
The new Justice League America that formed after the Legends crisis (wherein the New God known as Darkseid embarked upon a plan to weaken the resolve of Earth's faith in the super-hero community) consisted of Doctor Fate, Batman, Mister Miracle, Green Lantern (Guy Gardner), Blue Beetle (Ted Kord), Captain Marvel (although his presence was later retconned with Zero Hour), Black Canary, the heroic Dr. Light, and Oberon. This time, the unscrupulous financier and liaison Maxwell Lord appeared. Justice League America quickly renamed itself to "Justice League International". Captain Atom and Rocket Red IV joined the team as Captain Marvel and Dr. Fate left. The team also takes up a new residence, this time in Metropolis. The team continued to grow until the decision was made to split it into two teams: Justice League International returned to being Justice League America and a new Justice League Europe was formed in Paris. The JLE lineup consisted of Captain Atom as field leader, Elongated Man, Power Girl, Flash (Wally West), Rocket Red IV, Animal Man, and Metamorpho. The Watchtower A new JLA would form after a new villain calling himself Know Man kidnapped Doctor Destiny and used his powerful reality altering abilities to cause many of the world's heroes to briefly forget their superheroic identities. Know Man revealed a seemingly insane plot to transform the entire population of earth into metahumans--a move that he said was necessary to combat an oncoming evil. The world's greatest heroes were on the job, however, and Know Man was stopped and forced to flee. The then-current Justice League, which had essentially been reduced to Metamorpho, Ice, and a couple of others were operating out of the Overmind's defunct space ship. That ship was destroyed and Metamorpho seemingly killed after the arrival of the Hyperclan, a team of superpowered aliens who arrived on Earth, offering to transform the world into a paradise. To that end, they rounded up several supervillains and summarily executed them, drawing the opposition of Earth's heroes. The Good Samaritan routine quickly proved a sham--the Hyperclan were renegade White Martians. Only by joining together could the heroes defeat them. This group decided they would be the core lineup of an all new JLA. Using Martian and Kryptonian technology, the team quickly built a new base, the Watchtower, on the surface of the moon.''JLA'' #1-#4 The team then decided to have a recruitment drive--Hitman, Damage, and Max Mercury did not make the cut, but a mysterious woman named Tomorrow Woman did. She quickly turned out to be a highly advanced android built by T.O. Morrow and Professor Ivo to be a plant inside the League--but they gave her too much free will and she self-sacrificed to save the others. She was given a hero's funeral.''JLA'' #5 The team soon got called out to California, where the angel Zauriel has come to Earth, pursued by renegade angels working for Asmodel. Soon, Asmodel himself shows up and most of the team has to battle him while Superman--currently in his blue energy form--has to stop Neron and the Demons Three from causing the moon to fall out of the sky. Once he's successful, he wrestles Asmodel to a standstill while Zauriel and GL manage to build a device with his power ring that banishes the other angels off the Earth.''JLA'' #6-#7 Back on the Watchtower, the team is caught off guard and knocked unconscious by the villainous Key. He and his robot minions hook them up to a virtual reality machine, causing each of them to live a different life in VR as part of a plot to take over all of space and time. Luckily, Green Arrow (Connor Hawke) beams up to the Watchtower (he was coming for a second interview) and recovering his Dad's old trick arrows from the Trophy Room, he manages to almost single-handedly take down Key and his robots. Green Arrow is inducted as a member of the League.''JLA'' #8-#9 Aztek joins the League shortly thereafter,''Aztek'' #10 bringing the roster up to nine--briefly, as Wonder Woman shortly dies.''Wonder Woman'' (vol. 2) #125 In opposition to the new League, Lex Luthor decides to form a new Injustice Gang, consisting of himself, Circe, The Joker, Ocean Master, Mirror Master, and Doctor Light. Luthor had acquired the Rock of Ages, which granted him extensive power, and built a secret lair for the Gang on an orbiting satellite. Building hard light holograms in the form of the Justice League members, the Injustice Gang commenced an attack on Star City, massacring many people before the League could stop the holograms. During the battle, Aquaman sensed the mind of his brother, Ocean Master, controlling one of the holograms and this helped put the team on the right trail. After taking a timeout to deal with the Genesis event, the League gets back on the trail and soon uncovers the truth about Luthor and his new gang. Green Arrow is corrupted by Circe into becoming a mole, while Batman manages to contact Mirror Master and get him to become a turncoat in the Gang. The JLA also recruits Plastic Man, who manages to also infiltrate the satellite posing as the Joker (after tying up the real Joker). Superman and Martian Manhunter attempt to infiltrate the Gang's lair, only to discover it booby trapped. Meanwhile, Metron arrives and warns the team about Luthor's possession of the Rock of Ages. He takes Aquaman, Flash, and Green Lantern on a mission to Wonder World before promising to return them.''JLA'' #10-#12 Traveling faster than light, Aquaman, Green Lantern, and Flash end up returning to Earth fifteen years in the future--a future where Darkseid has conquered the Earth after the destruction of the Rock of Ages. Their minds assert themselves into their future bodies--Kyle finds himself transformed into one of Darkseid's drone soldiers, and Wally is sick and out of shape, causing both of them to despair. Superman and J'onn J'onzz are dead, and Batman has been missing for eight years. Diana, however, is alive and doing her best to lead the resistance against Darkseid, who has converted over half the planet's population into drones with no free will of their own. All that's left of the League aside from Diana are Green Arrow (Connor Hawke), the Atom (Ray Palmer), Argent, a reprogrammed Amazo, and a new Aztek. Breaking into Darkseid's palace, the team discovers that Batman is still alive--he managed to defeat Desaad and has recently assumed his place. Darkseid shows up, and as Diana battles him, Batman manages to seize control of Metron and his Mobius chair, forcing him to send the three time traveling heroes back to the right era. As Diana falls to Darkseid, Argent and Aztek successfully destroy his "zombie factory" on the moon (losing their own lives in the process). Batman is defenseless against Darkseid (who now has a personal forcefield that deflects all attacks) and the Dark Lord strikes him down. That leaves Atom and Green Arrow (Amazo is brought down on the way in), but the two most unlikely heroes manage to kill the great Darkseid himself.''JLA'' #13-#14 Fortunately, none of that "really" happens, as the three heroes are restored to their proper place and prevent the destruction of the Rock of Ages. Luthor even uses its awesome power to bring back to life everyone killed in the Star City massacre. Green Arrow reveals that he never really betrayed the team--he was just allowing Circe to think he had, and after a battle where Mirror Master walks out, the Injustice Gang is defeated--but Lex Luthor is as untouchable as always.''JLA'' #15 The team briefly considers disbanding, feeling that they might attract more enemies, but decide to stay the course. They recruit new members: Steel, Big Barda, Orion, Plastic Man, Wonder Woman (Hippolyta), and Huntress while inviting the press up to the Watchtower to cover the event. At that exact moment, Prometheus chooses to make his entrance, and he manages to systematically take down the League one by one, exploiting each of their weaknesses, before a humbled Batman is able to finally turn the tables.''JLA'' #16-#17 Zauriel joins the team shortly thereafter. The JLA had to battle in D.C. against Julian September, who had managed to upset the "odds" in the universe, causing the number seven to appear (i.e. seven villains randomly decided to try and kidnap the President, seven airplanes almost collided with one another). As the "probability cancer" began to affect all reality, it also began to affect the past, causing (among other things) Batman to disappear when the gun that would have shot his parents jammed. With the help of the Atom, the League was able to set it all to right, however.''JLA'' #18-#19 The JLA had to rally behind Superman Red and Superman Blue to defeat the Millennium Giants during the "Behold! The Millennium Giants!" adventure that almost saw the world's destruction. Thankfully, the Man of Steel was able to save the day, and was transformed back into his original self.''Superman: Forever'' #1 Identity Crisis Identity Crisis, and its immediate fallout, the "Crisis of Conscience" ''JLA'' #115-#119, led to the dissolution of the Justice League of America. The breakdown of relationships during the Identity Crisis reached its zenith. As in the time of the Detroit JLA, the team disbanded again, leaving it to the Martian Manhunter to again rebuild the team, with Superman's blessing. Meanwhile, following his resignation from the JLA, Batman is confronted by his faithful aide, Alfred Pennyworth, who surmises that the reason why Batman was so outraged over the mind-wiping of Dr. Light and other villains (and himself) was that Catwoman may have also been mind-wiped, and this might have been the reason for her semi-heroic nature in recent years, rather than any positive influence from Batman himself. Infinite Crisis and Aftermath Later, someone, recognized by the JLA Watchtower's systems as the Man of Steel, blows the Watchtower apart, in the very moment in which the Martian Manhunter found, and was about to tell the others, a connection between the team dissolution, the rise of the OMACs, the intergalactic war between Rann and Thanagar, the creation of a new Secret Society of Super-Villains and the rampage against magic by the Spectre. This intruder is later revealed to be Superboy-Prime. So, in the beginning of the Infinite Crisis, the JLA is once again disbanded. 52 Several months later, during the "Lost Year" following Infinite Crisis, Firestorm reorganized the team, inviting Ambush Bug, Bulleteer, Firehawk, and Super-Chief.52 Week 22 This League lasted very briefly. Their first and only mission, fighting a renegade Skeets, resulted in the death of Super-Chief.52 Week 24 One Year Later A year after the dissolution caused by the Infinite Crisis, Red Tornado's elemental spirit is tricked into abandoning his android body in favor of a human one. The android body is then abducted and modified by supervillains, an act which ultimately causes ten heroes to assemble and form the new team. Green Lantern (Hal Jordan) made a new team as he felt the League wasn't doing enough with the death of one of the trinity and the other two needed away from their respective places on the team. Black Canary, The Flash and Black Lightning had resigned for their own reasons, Red Arrow and Red Tornado were also on leave, and Hawkgirl was injured. The formation of the league became Dr. Light (Kimiyo Hoshi), Firestorm (Jason Rusch), Green Lantern (John Stewart), Vixen and Zatanna. They were to recruit new members and left the chairperson open in the hope that Black Canary will return. Final Crisis and Aftermath After the fallout of the Final Crisis, Batman (Bruce Wayne) had been belived to have been dead, Superman went to New Krypton, and most of the other members left the roster. Two of them, Green Lantern (Hal Jordan) and Green Arrow (Oliver Queen) decided to make their own Justice League team that uses a more offensive style of dealing with supervillian threats. So with that, they assembled a new team inititially consisting of Starman (Mikaal Tomas), Congorilla, Captain Marvel (Freddy Freeman), Batwoman, The Atom (Ray Palmer), and several other former Justice Leaguers. The result was Red Arrow (Roy Harper) losing his arm and daughter, Lian, Star City being destroyed, and most of the members being badly beaten by the villian who orchestrated it all; Prometheus. Green Lantern and Green Arrow decided to re-assemble the team once again that included Batman (Dick Grayson), Donna Troy, Mon-El, Congorilla, Starman, The Guardian, Starfire, Cyborg, The Atom, and Dr. Light. Dr. Light stepped away from active duty, but serves on the team as needed, while Starfire left the roster entirely. Recently, Supergirl and Jesse Quick have joined the team. | Equipment = | Transportation = | Weapons = | Notes = After the events of the Crisis on Infinite Earths, the JLA's New Earth origin differedSecret Origins #32 from the Pre-Crisis origin slightly, most notably the inclusion of Black Canary, the absence of Batman, and Superman single-handedly defeating the last alien but leaving moments before the group arrived. The Post-Crisis founding members of the team being: *Flash II (Barry Allen) *Green Lantern II (Hal Jordan) *Black Canary II (Dinah Laurel Lance) *Aquaman (Orin/Arthur Curry II); and *The Martian Manhunter (J'onn J'onzz). In post-Crisis timeline, Black Canary II replaced Wonder Woman as a founding member of the JLA. This had the effect of Wonder Woman not having been present for any of the early JLA adventures she originally appeared in (Pre-Crisis). Following history changes during the Infinite Crisis, however, the Trinity are restored to their status as founding members. Post-Infinite Crisis/New Earth founding members: *Superman (Kal-El/Clark Kent) *Batman (Bruce Wayne) *Wonder Woman (Diana of Themyscira/Diana Prince) *Flash II (Barry Allen) *Green Lantern II (Hal Jordan) *Aquaman (Orin/Arthur Curry II) *The Martian Manhunter (J'onn J'onzz) | Trivia = Recommended Readings * JLA: Year One * JLA Incarnations * JLA: New World Order * JLA: Rock of Ages * JLA: Strength in Numbers * JLA: World War III * JLA: Tower of Babel * JLA: The Obsidian Age | Links = *Justice League of America at Wikipedia *Justice League Library containing chronologies and source references. *The JLA Ages * The World's Greatest Super-Heroes. . . . . . the Justice League of America! Unca Cheeks' article on the JLA *PANNING FOR SILVER - ON GRANT MORRISON'S JLA . . . AND THE SENSE OF WONDER Part 1 at Unca Cheeks the Toy Wonder's Silver Age Comics Web Site! }} Category:Justice League of America